The Daily Faceoff Show: Former NHL referee Tim Peel on missed penalty calls late in games

We’ve got some reffing controversies on our hands.

In Wednesday’s game between the Edmonton Oilers and Washington Capitals and Thursday’s game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes, a couple of calls were missed late that had direct impacts on the outcomes.

Frank Seravalli and Chris Gear spoke with former NHL referee Tim Peel about why these calls get missed and what the steps are afterward for the referees who missed them.

Seravalli: This week there were a couple of missed calls late in games, Auston Matthews was fired up on Thursday, the Edmonton Oilers were fired up on Wednesday.

What do you make of it? We see these situations where it’s the last minute or two of a game and a call isn’t made. Is that a situational decision by a referee? Or do you view that as a blown call?

Peel: That’s a great question and, unfortunately, I have to go with your latter point that it’s a blown call.

Bill McCreary, longtime NHL referee and Hockey Hall of Famer who I consider to be the best to ref in the NHL, said to me many years ago, “You have two or three opportunities in a game to step up and make the call. You can wait around for 56 or 57 minutes, but there are a couple of times in the game in which you need to step up.”

The play with Alex Ovechkin and Zach Hyman the other day, that’s clearly a penalty that we called in the ’80s, let alone 2022. It clearly had an impact on the game.

here's the blatant hook committed by alex ovechkin that went uncalled with a minute to go. this game never should've gone to overtime. pic.twitter.com/oEgNFHqr9P

— zach laing (@zjlaing) March 10, 2022

Last night’s call in Toronto wasn’t as egregious, the Matthews play, but it was definitely a penalty that we need to call. I can guarantee that Stephen Walkom [the NHL’s vice-president and director of officiating] and Colin Campbell expect our guys to make that call every night.

I don’t know if it’s inexperience with the two officials that were working Thursday’s game, because one of them, Brandon Blandina, is a first- or second-year ref, and the other one, Kendrick Nicholson, still hasn’t worked playoffs yet and he’s trying to find his way in the NHL.

But that’s a time when you need to step up and make that call. The players expect that call to be made and Auston Matthews, who I have a tremendous amount of respect for, very rarely complains.

Blown call on Matthews leads to the overtime winner pic.twitter.com/9V5DKAuRXT

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 11, 2022

Seravalli: Tim, I want to stop you for a second. You said that you thought the Matthews call wasn’t egregious. Take a look at the two times where there’s a hand off the stick and grabbing Matthews, and looking at the position of the referee, he’s looking right at it, hand off the stick and grabbing Matthews, why isn’t this call made?

Peel: You’re absolutely right, and when I said egregious, I was comparing it to the Ovechkin play, which is clearly a penalty 10 out of 10 times. This is clearly a penalty as well. It happens quickly, but you’re right, Kendrick Nicholson is looking directly at that play.

As a referee, as soon as you see a turnover, you have to make a judgment call. Was there a turnover on that play because of an infraction? And clearly there was in this case, you’re 100 percent right, this should have been a penalty.

Gear: When a play like this happens, what happens the next day? How does it play out so that these calls aren’t missed in the future, or so that these refs have an opportunity to improve?

Peel: Stephen Walkom, whether it’s via email or through a supervisor at the game, they would address this call with those two referees the morning after the game and get their feedback, “Hey, why was this call not being made?”

Because as we alluded to earlier, this is a call that the players expect now. They expect this call to be made. Under the standard that we’ve had for a number of years, this is a call that should be made every night.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to get on these refs, but there’s a reason that some work playoffs and some don’t work playoffs.

This is a call where, if you want to elevate your game and be considered one of the top officials in the NHL, you need to make this call so that the league says, “Hey, we can put this guy into a playoff game and we can trust him.” But if you don’t make that call, it’s tough for them to say, “Hey, we’re going to put you in the playoffs.”

You can watch the full episode here…